Manufacture of pleated skirts



May 15, 1962 F. J. M. HEBRAS 3,034,135

MANUFACTURE OF PLEATED SKIRTS Filed Nov, 28, 1958 Fic-3.1 f

2 Sheets-Sheet l May 15, 1962 F. J. M. HEBRAS 3,034,135

MANUFACTURE op PLEATED sxlRTs Filed NOV. 28, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3,034,135 MANUFACTURE F PLEATED SKR'iS Frederic .lean Marcel Hehras, 2 Ave. Desaix, Maisons-Laii'itte, France Filed Nov. 28, 1958, Ser. No. 776,808 Claims priority, application France May 17, 1958 4 Claims. (Cl. 2-211) This invention relates kto the manufacture of pleated skirts. In assembling a pleated skirt, the gathering of the pleats at the waist is always a source of ditiiculty even for a skilled worker. This is because the piece of pleated material, when laid out flat, must have a width of from about 95 cm. to about 1l5 cm. so as to correspond to the hip measurements. However, the pleats must be gathered at the waist down to a width of from about 60 cm. to 88 cm. depending on the size. ln thus gathering the pleated material there is practically no satisfactory reference mark available to the worker whereby the pleated material may be accurately and unilformly reduced to the desired measurement. Thus, for a 65 centimeter waistline, the pleated fabric may either exceed in width the requisite waist measurement, or on the other hand the pleats may be too greatly restricted so that the pleated waistline may be`too narrow. Another diiculty may arise in that the worker, on suddenly becoming aware when partly through the job that the final measurements will be erroneous, has a tendency to over-compensate, thus producing irregular pleating.

In practice, the working girls have to operate by rule of thumb and are only able to do an efficient job after prolonged practice. Even then, an eiiicient worker may have to undo and remake from about 12% to 15% of the waistlines produced. The time currently required by a skilled worker to assemble the waistline of a pleated skirt may be estimated at about l hr. to 11/2 hr. A beginner may require as much as from 3 to 5 hrs. for the same operation and the output may still be unsatisfactory.

It is an object of this invention to overcome the above difiiculties. A more specilic object is to enable pleated skirt waistlines to be produced with 100% reliability in only a fraction of the time heretofore required. Thus,

la well-trained and well-equipped working girl can corn- --plete the job in about one quarter of an hour, while a beginner or unskilled worker will be sure of producing a satisfactory article in not more than one hour. The savingin time and increase in production uniformity and general efficiency as manifested by these figures are selfevident.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided an adjustable waistband device, particularly though not exclusively. applicable to pleated skirts, which will provide a perfect lit regardless of minor fluctuations in the wearers waistline.

The above and further objects, advantages, aspects and features of the invention will be made clear from the ensuing description made with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FlGS. l, 2 and 3 schematically illustrate a piece of pleated fabric from which a skirt is to be made, at three different stages of the waistline assembling operations;

FIGS. 4' and 5 are a larger-scale showing at the stage in which the waistband is finally assembled to the skirt;

FIG. 6 is an inside view of an improved adjustable waistband for pleated skirts according to the invention;

3,034,135 Patented May 15, 1962 elastic band or, preferably, an elastic thread l, e.g. of lastex or the like, in slack condition, the thread being stitched down by means of extensible stitches (eg. chain or zig-zag stitches). The gathering effected may be such as to yield a width of material wherein the dimension l (FIG. l) may equal say about 58 cm. One end of the pleated length of material is then pinned to the worktable by means of a pin 2, and the opposite end is pulled out until the desired measurement is exactly obtained of say 62, 63, 65, 67 centimeters or any other value.V At this point the said free end of the pleated fabric is pinned down on the table with a pin 3 (see FIG. 2), a waistband 4 of suitable strong woven fabric such as Petersharn is laid down along the upper selvedge of the pleated material and is pinned thereto at spaced points e.g. with pins spaced by about l5 cm.; the end pins 2 and 3 are withdrawn to release the ends of the pleated fabric from the table, and the waistband 4 is finally folded over, e.g. manually (as shown in FIG. 4), thereby producing an accurately and uniformly dimensioned waistband exactly corresponding to the. desired measurement. The extensible stitches are then pulled out andthe elastic thread l is withdrawn so as to leave no trace on the finished article, as shownin FlG. 5. Should the thread 1 happen to lie beneath the foldedover waistband 3, it would then be concealed and would not require to be withdrawn.

According to another feature of the invention, the elastic thread 1 is laid over the material at a distance from the lower selvedge of thev skirt corresponding sub- Stantially to the shortest vertical dimension of the skirt, minus about 5 cru.` In the case of a long skirt the material does not require to be cut, whereas for a shorter skirt, a strip of material S of the desired vertical dimension may be cut otf from the upper selvedge (see FIG. 3), and operation that will in no way interfere with the proper hanging of the pleats.

In practice, it is simply necessary to have available pieces of pleated material of say two dierent lengths and two different widths in order to cater for the lengths and width of all sizes of skirts that may be required, both for women and young girls. Other and smaller sets of dimensions may be provided for childrens articles.

Where the skirt is to be cut to the size of very smallsized persons, it may happen that the length of material required is lessv than the distance from the elastic to the fw t .lower selvedge of the material. Hence in accordance with a modification of the invention, it is contemplated in such cases that the elastic may be placed a short distance from the upper selvedge of the material, e.g. about one centimeter from said selvedge, while the waistband is again laid below the elastic and a variable distance from it, depending on the length of the skirt to be made. In other respects this modication is similar tothat first described.

FlG. 9 illustrates this modified form of embodiment of the invention. As shown, the elastic 1 is positioned in a generally similar manner as earlier described, but a short distance from the top selvedge. The waistband 4 is next positioned again in the same manner but just below the elastic l (see left part of FIG. 9). After the waistband 4 has been positioned, the material-is cut so that the portion of material carrying the elastic l is removed. All that is required thereafter, as indicated on the right side of FIG. 9, is to fold the waistband down over the selvedge of the material.

As specied above, the invention is also directed to an improved adjustable belt or waistband which may be desirably associated with a pleated skirt made up as described above, to retain a perfect it therefor While allowing for changes in the wearers waistli'ne within reasonable limits.

Such a belt according to the invention, Vas shown in the tip V6 of the waistband, eg. at the point marked A in FIG.V 6r, with the material extending to the point B near theopposite-end. The waistband 4 has a strip 7 attached thereto of an appropriate non-slip material v(such as ribbed rubber fabric) at least'equal in length to the difference between the endrnost waistlines' con- Y so as'to secure the same in said partly spread condition to said waistband and thereby form a skirt top with a templated, e.g. l5 cm. in the example here selected.

The waistbandproper 4 is extended beyond the strip 7 by an elastic band 8 of suitable length, carrying a hook 9 at its end. This hook is adapted to engage wtih any one of a set of straps such as 10, 11, two in number in 'the embodiment shown. The pointed tip 6 of the waistband carries a claw-clip 12 secured to its inner surface l and having a pivoted claw arm adapted to be engaged over the upper selvedge ot waistband` 4 and thereafter Vyfolded down and clamped against the strip 7 of non-slip material at any desired point of the latter.,

To fasten the skirt, the hook 9 is rst engaged into a 'selected :one of the straps 10, 11 after first having stretched the elastic band S. Then it is simply necessary tobring the'clip 12 on a level with the inner band 7 andclamp it down at any desired point along the length Vofthe latter, whereby the skirt will be perfectly y,

well fitted to the waist, with no tendency for therslit 12 to gape, since ang/,changes in waistline that may occur lare relatively small,V since the skirt -was originally made upto the wearers exact size. lf desired, the said slit may further beY closed as with a slide-fastener or snap- A"fastener, or the like.

' FIGS. 7 and 8 clearly illustrate the manner Vin which a waistband according to the invention may be mounted on a skirt wherein the waistline is say 74 (FIG. 7) and "on another skirt having a waistline of say 62 (FIG. 8).

-It will be seen that the elastic band 8 has been stretched a greater or less amount and its hook engaged on one or the other of the two straps 10, 11. The claw 12 also occupies a diiferent position on the non-slip band 7. Y

However, the skirt is retained in a well fastened condition in both cases, with the total length of the waistband 4 remaining the same, but the material extending to Vdifferent points along the length of the non-slip band 7.

The waistband described is preferably made from socalledV coarse-grained fabric or Petersharn, stitched to Y fa' base Yband of material which may or may not be the Vpleated material of a predetermined Width extensible elastic thread means extending across the pleats, so thatY the pleats will spread and partially open out on extendtheibias of said elastic Vthread means; extending said provisionally pleated material together with said extensible elastic, thread means secured thereto to a selected great- `Yer widthpwhereby the pleatswill be partially opened up and spread over said greater width; and securing Va waistband of substantially compression resistant material to the thus extended pleated material transverse to the pleats f ing the pleated material transverse to the pleats against f waistband of required length.A v

2. A method of fitting a waistband of a pleated skirt, comprising the steps of securing to a provisionally pleated material or a predetermined width extensible elastic threads means extending in zig-zag form across the pleats, so that the pleats will spread and partially open out on extending the pleated material transverse to Vthe pleats against the bias of said elastic Vthread means; extending said provisionally pleated material together with said extensible elastic thread means secured thereto to a selected greater width whereby the pleats will be partiallyfopened up and spread over said greater width; and securing a waistband of substantially compression resistant'material to the thus extended pleatedmaterial transverse to the pleats so as to secure the same in said partly spread condition to said waistband and thereby form a skirt top with a waistband of required length.

3. A method of tting a waistband of a pleated skirt, comprising the steps of securing to a provisionally pleated material Vot a predetermined widthextensible elastic thread means extending across thepleats adjacent one of the edges of said provisionally pleated material, so that the pleats will spread and partially open out on extending the pleated material transverse to the 'pleats against the bias of said elastic thread means; extending said provisionally pleated materialftogether with said extensible elastic thread means secured thereto to a selected greater Width whereby the pleats will be partially opened up arid spread over said greater width; and'securing a waistband of substantially Vcompression resistant material to the'thus'ex- `tended pleated material transverse/to the pleats so as to secure the same insaid partly spread condition to said waistband and thereby form a skirt top with a waistband of required length.

4. A method of itting a waistband of a pleated skirt, comprising the steps of securing to a provisionally pleated material of a predetermined width extensible elastic thread means extending in zig-zag form across the pleats adjacent one of the edges of said provisionally pleated material, so 'that the pleats will spread and partially open out on extending the pleated material transverse to the pleats against the'bias of said elastic thread means; extending said provisionally pleated material together with said extensible elastic thread means secured thereto to a selected greater width whereby the pleats will be partially opened up and spread over said greater width; and securing a waistband of relatively stili material to the thus extended pleated material transverse to the pleats so as to secure the same in said partly spread condition to said waistband and thereby form a skirt top with a waistband of required length. A

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITEDv STATES PATENTS 643,775 McGraw 5---- Feb. 20, 1900 873,167 Peters Dec. l0, 1907 1,225,613 Geiger May 8, 1917 1,401,501 VShaw Dec. 27, 1921 1,437,218 Bender Nov. 28, 1922 1,755,213 Freydberg et al; Apr. 22, 1930 2,418,347 Haag Apr. 1, 1947 OTHER REFERENCES Y Washington Post and TimesHerald, July 14, 1954,

Woodward & Lothrop Advertisement.

Language of Fashion Dictionary, Mary Brooks Picken, Funk & Wagnalls ICo., N.Y., 1939, page 110. 

